Existing dielectric resonator antennas do not incorporate active devices within or mounted directly on the physical antenna element. Instead they integrate active devices off the antenna, for example, by using a microstrip path and/or a slot. That is, active electronics and antenna elements are connected, side by side. When the antenna is located on the chip next to the active electronics, the chip itself can adversely affect antenna performance due to the presence of wire bonds, microwave substrates, solder bumps, etc.
The prior includes:
(1) McAllister, Long, Conway “Rectangular dielectric resonator antenna,” Electron. Lett, vol 19, March 1983;
(2) Esselle, “A low profile rectangular dielectric resonator antenna,” IEEE Trans on Ant. and Prop., vol. 44, September 1996;
(3) Petosa, Simons, Siushansian, Ittipiboon, Cuhaci, IEEE Trans on Ant. and Prop., vol. 48, May 2000;
(4) Roberson, I. D. “Millimeter Wave Back Face Patch Antenna for Multilayer MMICs” Electron. Lett, vol 29, April 1993.
The present invention avoids these deficiencies improving performance of the active antenna.